Trivia / Jewel

• Black Sheep Hit: She had an unexpected #1 hit on the dance charts with "Serve the Ego", especially when it received a remix from the DJs Gabriel & Dresden. The success of "Serve the Ego" led her to lean fully into electronic dance-pop on her next album 0304; unfortunately, said album is widely regarded by her fans as a shameful Sell-Out move that killed her mainstream success, and she's largely returned to her older style since. She would later record a pair of Country Music albums, Perfectly Clear and Sweet & Wild, and two albums of children's music with Lullaby and The Merry Goes 'Round, but compared to "Serve the Ego" and 0304, they were a much smaller diversion from her usual style.
• Creator Backlash: Averted. Her dance-pop turn on 0304 alienated some fans and critics, and Jewel herself voiced frustration with her label's pressure to write an ad-ready lead single. Despite this, she continues to stand by the record and its lead single, "Intuition."
• Creator Breakdown: In a weird twist on the trope, "You Were Meant For Me" was written by her ex-boyfriend, Steve Poltz of The Rugburns, to deal with his grief over her breaking up with him. Apparently, there weren't too many hard feelings in the wake of the breakup — Poltz appears as Jewel's love interest in the music video.
• Creator Killer: In 2002, her career took an unexpected turn with "Serve the Ego", which brought the folksy singer-songwriter a surprise #1 hit on the dance charts. Seeking to capitalize, in 2003 she recorded and released the full-blown electronic dance-pop album 0304 — a move that went over like a lead balloon with her existing fanbase, who branded her a Sell-Out, and failed to bring her new fans. An attempted Parody Retcon claiming that she was satirizing the vapid Idol Singers of the early '00s did little to stem the damage, especially given that she had licensed the lead-off single "Intuition" to promote a line of razors by that name. While she quickly retreated back into her comfort zone after 0304 crashed and burned (her later forays into Country Music feeling far less removed from her usual style), her career never returned to its nineties heights.
• Writer Revolt: Her 2003 single "Intuition" was this on multiple levels. Jewel was peeved that her label told her the song had to be called "Intuition" (named after a new razor), so she ended up writing an anti-consumerist song that mocked celebrity culture and stars who Sell-Out. The director for the music video, Marc Klasfeld, was disappointed with Jewel for recording a pop song, so he went even further, creating a video that mocked commercials (and even poked fun at Jewel herself for "selling out").
• Written for My Kids: The Merry Goes Round, which was released a few months after she gave birth to her first child.

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